It’s just in case we made a mistake so it won’t take us out all the way and have to load back in again. They should but a question instead and have a choice just in case it is a mistake. Sometimes it’s 20 seconds and sometimes it won’t count down.
Server side still registers you in-game briefly if you alt-f4.
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^^^ this is the correct answer.
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Long enough time for a mob or another player to attack you, preventing you from logging out.
Last night I got disconnected from the server during the DDOS attack, and everything I did was rolled back by approx 20 seconds. I had checked my mail and learned cooking in between and that had completely reverted upon logging in again, even the gold I received was refunded.
I imagine it’s because the system only backs up every 20 seconds, unless you log out at a rest area, where it backs up instantly.
But I often wonder, due to this incorporation of time gating, why they also didn’t incorporate RNG into the logout time, too?
Just imagine: you go to logout, and the time varies from 15 to 30 seconds, with the actual time being based on RNG.
And then they could have like a guild buff or toy or something that would reduce your logout time by 5 or 10 seconds, but no faster than the 15 second minimum.
Oh, I know, they could sell said toy for like $10 in the cash shop!
Hey Blizzard, feel free to use these ideas in exchange for sending me the toy for free!
/moo 
Because you can’t log out in combat, and the only thing that’s going to be after you once you do drop combat is another player.
I’ve always assumed the reason was so you couldn’t jack out while fighting a mob to cheese your way out of death. 20 seconds of inactivity is just enough time to die.
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It’s the alpha testing for the WoW version of Sword Art Online, full dive, where you can’t log out.
They’re seeing how people do with 20 seconds. Results differ.
Blizzards version of the 5 second rule 
It’s so we can’t just ALT-F4 our way to safety like we did back in Diablo 2 when we met a triple immune extra strong extra fast boss mob in hardcore mode. AF4 was like an oh crap button.
So now, if you alt f4, you’re still there in game for 20 seconds. You can still hit “exit now” though if you just want the client to end. Your character will just be there for 20 sec.
Lots of people are logging out at the same time and there is basically a queue to log out safely.
my guess is if you don’t wait 20s it will remove data/information. you see this happen with other things to i actually had some stuff i think it was a USB or printer or something that did the exact same thing. had to eject it via program first before i could remove it. just removing it would have the same effect.
WoW wise i have lost data/information many times for just logging out. usually it is UI related. set my UI up, log out without waiting the 20s and log back in and everything got reset. this is base UI btw. usually it happens when my character is brand new after a while it doesn’t happen and usually only happens once for that character and thats it.
I always had it described to me that the 20 seconds is to make absolutely sure that you’re synced up with the Server and you don’t die or anything while your game is closing.
The equivalent of ejecting a USB thumbdrive before you pull it out.
The truth of this I don’t know.